The present invention relates to the field of refurbishing processing water. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and a method for on-site refurbishing of food processing effluent water.
Modern food processing operations require a large quantity of water in processing foods. As an example, poultry slaughter operations use about six to eight gallons of water per bird. During poultry slaughter, the birds must be washed before, during, and after evisceration. After the water is used to wash the food product, the effluent water is typically sent directly to a drain and disposed of. It is desirable to minimize the amount of water used during food processing operations in order to reduce water costs, as well as labor costs, without compromising the efficiency of the process.
An obstacle in reducing the amount of water consumption per piece of food product is identifying a compact, simple, and inexpensive water reuse system that does not adulterate or degrade food safety, quality, color, and/or taste of the final food product. In typical water reuse systems, spent water is reclaimed and reconditioned through a filtration and treatment process. During the filtration and treatment process, large and small suspended particles are first filtered from the water. The filtered water is then treated with antimicrobial solution to destroy microorganisms present in the water. The refurbished water is then returned to the food processing system for reuse.
Current water purification systems known in the art require a large amount of space as well as on-site operators due to the complexity of the systems. Less complex systems have limited applicability because they cannot effectively remove smaller suspended particles, such as bacteria, or dissolved materials that can degrade food safety and quality from the reclaimed water.